CEO & Boards – Page 4

Explaining Compensation to Employees

February 4, 2014

Last week, the Ontario Government announced that after a 4-year freeze that they will increase the minimum wage from $10.25 per hour to $11.00 per hour. I never considered this as affecting my clientele until I was at dinner with a small business owner on Thursday evening. While she does not have any employees at ...

Managerial Excellence: A case study in not.

January 21, 2014

It is always risky wading into any topic that involves politics or religion. That said, writing this blog was one that I could not just ignore. Stephen Harper, the Prime Minster of Canada is often cited in the media as being proud of the managerial excellence that his government has brought to office. I think ...

What is it that I do?

December 20, 2013

One of the toughest questions that I struggle to succinctly answer is: What do I do? The reason for this is that I am a generalist. Unlike many of my peers, I don’t have a detailed, specific practitioner level knowledge or certifications in accounting, finance, law, supply chain, marketing, project management, technology or human resources. ...

Raising Money: IF versus WHEN

November 1, 2013

Recently, I have been thinking about the challenge of raising money if you are a successful but bootstrapped company. In the last year, there have been cases of successful companies (substantial revenue, cash flow positive, growing rapidly) accepting investment for the first time even though they were well beyond the stage when traditional start-ups seek ...

The Challenger Sale

September 29, 2013

I usually don’t do book reports as part my blog. That said, if you are selling complex, enterprise-class solutions in a B2B environment, you need to check out “The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation” . Developed based on research CEB , the Challenger Sale model seeks to quantifiably defines the success factors of the best sales ...

I don’t get it: Why are Employers Fixated on Marks.

June 23, 2013

I have two kids who just graduated from university this year. As a result, I have been helping some of their friends and classmates with introductions to companies where I think that there is a good fit between the graduating student and the company in terms of culture, values, skills and training. My request of ...

Why you should put a sales guy in charge of your recruiting

May 7, 2013

A young grad recently accepted a job offer. She had been interviewing with a company that she really liked. It was a good fit for her skills and experience. The company told her that they wanted to hire her but needed a couple of weeks to work out some budget issues. In the meantime, she ...

Being Vulnerable

December 7, 2012

A number of years ago, I learnt an important lesson about leadership. Many courses and business books talk about leadership attributes in terms of being strong, confident, assertive, driven, high energy, and focussed. I am sure you have heard or read this many times. What I learnt is the value of being humble, open, honest ...

What start-up CEO’s, Boards and Shareholder can learn from the US election

December 1, 2012

Given that I am an outsider, I recognize that by commenting on the US Election in a polarized political environment, I risk offending someone. So with my apologies given in advance, here are four observations of what start-up's can learn from the US election… 1. Don't make your CEO re-interview for their job every 4 ...

Why Context matters

September 15, 2012

The problem with "Context" is that you never know that you are lacking it until you get it, and then it becomes obvious. You are all probably wondering what the heck I am talking about. Let me try and unpack my opening sentence and make some sense of it. If you are judging an employee's ...

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